The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will field “excellent” candidates for the local elections later this year, President Tsai Ing-wen (???), who also chairs the party, said Wednesday, at the party’s first Central Standing Committee meeting after the Lunar New Year holiday.
During the meeting, Tsai set out four goals that the DPP government hopes to achieve this year, with one of them being to win the local elections scheduled for Nov. 26.
The local elections, also known as the “nine-in-one” elections, will take place across Taiwan with voters electing municipal mayors, county magistrates, county-level mayors, city and county councilors, and village chiefs, among others.
The DPP suffered a serious defeat to the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) in the last local elections in 2018, winning only 6 of the 22 municipalities and counties, while the KMT was victorious in 15.
While the DPP has yet to announce any nominations for the local elections, Tsai said the party would select “excellent candidates” to run for local government leadership and representative positions.
According to Tsai, the DPP government’s second goal for the year would be to strengthen its trade and economic ties with other countries and expand collaborations with Taiwan’s democratic partners.
Tsai said the government’s decision to lift a decade-long import ban on Japanese food and agricultural products from areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster showed the country’s willingness to adhere to international standards and efforts to remove trade barriers against other countries.
At the same time, the government will adopt food inspection measures that are stricter than global standards at the border to ensure the safety of food imports, Tsai added.
For the past 11 years, Taiwan has banned food imports from five Japanese prefectures — Fukushima, where the disaster occurred, and neighboring Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi.
The Executive Yuan announced on Tuesday it would lift the ban by the end of February, but added that products from the disaster-hit zone would be subject to batch-by-batch border inspections.
The government’s third goal involves promoting Taiwan’s key industries to further economic growth, such as semiconductors, electric vehicles, and the 5G network, Tsai said, adding that Taiwan’s economy experienced the largest growth in 11 years in 2021 of over 6 percent.
In the meantime, the government is continuing to adopt health protocols to tackle the challenges from the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Tsai noted.
Finally, the government will continue its policies to improve the welfare of all citizens, according to Tsai.
The monthly childrearing allowance for a household’s first child under the age of five will be raised to NT$5,000 (US$179.92) from the current NT$3,500 starting August, Tsai said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel